The moon sets 3:38 a.m. today, rises 2:16
p.m. Wednesday. It is five days after the first quarter.

100 years ago today

1913: Fortunate warning: "The screams
of several girls and his own presence of mind saved Dr. Thomas H. Weaber from
an accident that would have resulted in his death when in his auto he drove
upon a crossing of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Allentown
directly in the path of a train. The gates at the crossing had not been lowered
due to a defect in the mechanism. The engineer shut down so suddenly that
passengers were thrown from their seats, and Dr. Weaber, hearing the cries of
the girls, backed his car away in time to be only grazed by the locomotive."

50 years ago today

1963: Noisy neighbors: "The 'bang.
bang, bang' in Superior Court in Morristown
was not the judge's gavel but rather a tape recording of shotgun blasts every
15 seconds. The tape was played to Judge Thomas Stanton, who has been asked by
a group of residents of Hope Township,
Warren County,
to issue an injunction preventing the Hope trap and skeet range from operating
on Mt. Herman Road. The
plaintiffs complain pellets from the shotgun shells are being showered on
neighboring properties and the blasts create a noisy nuisance in the tiny
community. Joseph Zorn, a Hope resident, said he made the recordings and used a
decibel meter to measure the sound. 'Bam! Bam! Bam!' went the recording." Said
the judge, "We've heard enough. Listening to this is like waiting for the
fellow upstairs to drop the other shoe."

25 years ago today

1988: Magnanimous in defeat: "Mike
Tyson dropped Easton's Larry Holmes three times in the fourth round and
retained his undisputed heavyweight title. A crowd of 16,000, the largest to
see a fight in Atlantic City,
filled Convention Hall for an intriguing matchup between boxing's youngest
heavyweight champion and his opponent, who was seeking to become the oldest man
to win the title. From the opening moments of the bout it seemed that Holmes,
17 years older, could not match the powerful champion punch for punch. Instead,
he tried to wage a fight of cunning and guile, calling upon everything he
learned in a professional career that spanned 15 years. 'He went out fighting,'
Tyson said of Holmes. 'He's a courageous man.'" After the fight Holmes said of
his opponent, "I have to give Tyson credit. He was tougher than I thought. He
is the true champion."

Quote of the day

"There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing." — Robert
Burns, Scottish poet (1759-1796).